Finn Harps will make their longest away trip of the season on Friday when the make the journey to Turners Cross to take on Cork City.
Cork are one of the favourites for this season’s Premier Division title, and a tough task awaits Ollie Horgan and his Finn Harps side if they hope to take anything from their trip Leeside.
“It doesn’t get much more difficult than away to Cork for a whole pile of reasons”, said Harps boss Horgan as he prepared for his side’s second away game in five days.
“The distance might be a long one, but that is the least of the worries ahead of the game,” he said.
“They have an excellent panel of hugely talented players, they are technically and physically very strong and have a great mixture of experience and youth. It could be a long hour and half for us,” he warned.
Horgan has every right to be worried. Not only does he have a mounting injury list – Barry Molloy, Josh Mailey, Keith Cowan, Tommy McMonagle, Adam Hanlon and Michael Rafter are all confirmed absentees by the Manager while Dave Scully and Kevin McHugh are carrying knocks – but history does not favour Harps.
In 17 previous trips to Turners Cross to face Cork City, Harps have only won once – that coming twenty years ago when a Pierce Walsh free-kick was the difference between the two sides in the first top flight meeting between the clubs.
Since then, it has been a tale of woe with Harps picking up just three draws in fifteen meetings between the sides – indeed, the last two visits have seen Harps ship five goals in each of their trips to the Cross.
Harps will go into the game with some confidence though having beaten Bray Wanderers at Finn Park last Friday night.
“I think anyone at the ground on Friday night could see that we were lucky to get the three points out of the game,” said Horgan of the 1-0 victory over the Seagulls.
“Bray were the better team but maybe the little bit of luck that we didn’t have earlier last week against St. Pat’s came back to us on Friday.”
A much changed Harps side followed the game with Bray with a trip to Galway in the EA Sports Cup on Monday night but ended up on the wrong side of a 4-2 defeat in the penalty shoot-out after a scoreless two hours.
“The Galway game gave an opportunity for a number of our players to get some game time and they acquitted themselves quiet well,” said Horgan.
“We probably could have done without the extra-time, however, where we picked up a few injuries.”
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TEAM NEWS
Suspended: None.
Doubtful: Dave Scully, Kevin McHugh.
Injured: Barry Molloy, Josh Mailey, Keith Cowan, Tommy McMonagle, Adam Hanlon, Michael Rafter.
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RECORD AGAINST CORK CITY (All Competitions)
Monday’s game will be the 36th meeting of the two clubs, and the 18th to be played at Turners Cross.
Total Games: 54 (27 at Turners Cross)
Harps Wins: 4 (1 at Turners Cross)
Cork Wins: 22 (13 at Turners Cross)
Draws: 9 (3 at Turners Cross)
Harps Goals: 21 (7 at Turners Cross)
Cork Goals: 56 (34 at Turners Cross)
LAST 10 GAMES v CORK CITY
18-Oct-05 Finn Harps 1-2 Cork City (Premier Division)
18-Apr-08 Cork City 3-0 Finn Harps (Premier Division)
11-Jul-08 Finn Harps 0-1 Cork City (Premier Division)
10-Oct-08 Cork City 1-1 Finn Harps (Premier Division)
30-Apr-10 Finn Harps 0-0 Cork City (First Division)
23-Jul-10 Cork City 2-1 Finn Harps (First Division)
15-Oct-10 Finn Harps 1-0 Cork City (First Division)
15-Apr-11 Cork City 5-0 Finn Harps (First Division)
02-Jul-11 Finn Harps 0-2 Cork City (First Division)
30-Sep-11 Cork City 5-2 Finn Harps (First Division)
OUR LAST MEETING WITH CORK CITY
30th September 2011. Turners Cross. League of Ireland First Division.
CORK CITY 5 Davin O’Neill 22, Kalen Spillane 30, Daryl Horgan 35, Graham Cummins 78, 85.
FINN HARPS 2 Blaine Curtis 28, 39.
Cork City: Mark McNulty; Ian Turner, Gavin Kavanagh, Kalen Spillane, Danny Murphy; Daryl Horgan, Gearóid Morrissey, Shane Duggan, Derek O’Brien (Neal Horgan 53); Graham Cummins (Vincent Escudé-Candau 86), Davin O’Neill (Vinny Sullivan 28). Unused Subs: James McCarthy, Danny Morrissey, Jamie Murphy, Cathal Lordan.
Finn Harps: Ciaran Gallagher; Aaron O’Hagan, Packie Mailey, Keith Cowan, Ciaran Coll; Kevin Devanny (Mark Forker 76), Conor O’Grady (Barry O’Mahoney 70), Gary Curran, Marc Brolly; Blaine Curtis, Stephen O’Donnell. Unused Sub: Thomas Bonner.
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FINN HARPS GOALSCORERS 2016
Ryan Curran – 2
Kevin McHugh – 1
Damien McNulty – 1
David Scully – 2
Ethan Boyle – 1 (in League Cup)
FINN HARPS RESULTS 2016
Fri 04-Mar Finn Harps 2-1 Derry City
Fri 11-Mar Dundalk 3–0 Finn Harps
Mon 14-Mar Finn Harps 0-1 Shamrock Rovers
Sat 19-Mar Sligo Rovers 1-1 Finn Harps
Tue 22-Mar Finn Harps 1-0 Cockhill Celtic (League Cup)
Sat 26-Mar Finn Harps 1-0 Longford Town
Fri 08-Apr Galway United 1-0 Finn Harps
Mon 11-Apr Finn Harps 1-2 St. Patrick’s Athletic
Fri 15-Apr Finn Harps 1-0 Bray Wanderers
Mon 18-Apr Galway United 0-0 Finn Harps (League Cup) – Galway won 4-2 on pens.
FINN HARPS REMAINING FIXTURES 2016
Fri 22-Apr Cork City (a)
Fri 29-Apr Wexford Youths (a)
Fri 06-May Bohemians (h)
Mon 09-May Derry City (a)
Fri 13-May Dundalk (h)
Sun 29-May Shamrock Rovers (a)
Fri 03-Jun Sligo Rovers (h)
Sat 25-Jun Longford Town (a)
Fri 01-Jul St. Patrick’s Athletic (a)
Fri 08-Jul Galway United (h)
Sat 16-Jul Bray Wanderers (a)
Fri 22-Jul Cork City (h)
Fri 29-Jul Wexford Youths (h)
Fri 05-Aug Bohemians (a)
Fri 12-Aug Derry City (h)
Mon 15-Aug Dundalk (a)
Fri 26-Aug Shamrock Rovers (h)
Fri 03-Sep Sligo Rovers (a)
Sat 16-Sep Longford Town (h)
Fri 23-Sep St. Patrick’s Athletic (h)
Fri 30-Sep Galway United (a)
Fri 07-Oct Bray Wanderers (h)
Fri 14-Oct Cork City (a)
Fri 21-Oct Wexford Youths (a)
Fri 28-Oct Bohemians (h)
Compiled by Joe Doherty. Email: joedoherty@finnharps.com
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